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Paradise Lost

by: John Milton

Publication date: 2008-03-15

Usage: Public Domain

Topics: librivox, audiobooks, poetry, religion

Language: English

Item Size: 1.6G

Paradise Lost is the first epic of English literature written in the classical style. John Milton saw himself as the intellectual heir of Homer, Virgil, and Dante, and sought to create a work of art which fully represented the most basic tenets of the Protestant faith. His work, which was dictated from memory and transcribed by his daughter, remains as one of the most powerful English poems. (Summary by Caeristhiona)

This is a recording of the text of Milton's first edition of 1667, which had ten books, unlike the second edition (1674) which was redivided into twelve books in the manner of Virgil's Aeneid. See Wikipedia entry here.

Readers include:
Owen
J.A. Carter
Kirsten Ferreri
Cori Samuel
Greg Bryant
Catharine Eastman
Clayton J. Smith
Rosalind Wills
Eric Ray
Onjana Yawnghwe
heyfd
Kurt Wong

For further information, including links to M4B audio book, online text, reader information, RSS feeds, CD cover or other formats (if available), please go to the LibriVox catalog page for this recording.

Addeddate: 2008-03-30 20:25:45

Boxid: OL100020301

Call number: 588

External-identifier: urn:storj:bucket:jvrrslrv7u4ubxymktudgzt3hnpq:paradise_lost_08083_librivox

External_metadata_update: 2019-04-14T03:43:01Z

Identifier: paradise_lost_08083_librivox

Ocr: tesseract 5.0.0-beta-20210815

Ocr_autonomous: true

Ocr_detected_lang: en

Ocr_detected_lang_conf: 1.0000

Ocr_detected_script: Latin

Ocr_detected_script_conf: 1.0000

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Reviews (5)

Reviewer: librivoxbooks - December 31, 2021 (edited)
Subject: @YannF

Which file are you trying to download - 64kbps, 128kbps, VBR, other?
It plays fine in the Archive player...

Reviewer: YannF - December 31, 2021
Subject: Problem with file 13

Hi, It seems there is a problem with file 13. When copying, it says "wrong MIME type".

Reviewer: screening99 - - February 16, 2014 (edited)
Subject: Read a bit like prose

I am not at all good at reading poetry aloud; therefore I know the difficulty. PL is particularly difficult. However, the beauty of PL is actually in ... the poetry, and since it is blank verse in iambic pentameter, that is how it must be read. One cannot put "the" in where it does not go; one must not add syllables to the line by making "ed" into a syllable where it does not belong.
There are few if any feminine endings in PL I believe, so unlike Shakespeare there may not be an 11th syllable (assuming words such as power are one syllable.) The meter and pronunciation here are sometimes incorrect. Milton pronounced ignominy as ignomy I would think, for example. Eliding such a word is not possible. In other situations where elision is possible or even written, the syllables are sometimes pronounced in this reading. The reading therefore is very prose like, unfortunately.
The enjambment is extremely difficult to read, and credit is due most of the time for not pausing in inappropriate places, or emphasizing the wrong syllable. Milton is very complex, and making objects, direct or indirect, sound like subjects is easy to do, particularly when the subject is understood, not written. This so far in my reading is done well.
Two other comments not so serious as the loss of the poetry. One is the slowness of the reading which can be sped up with certain audio players if downloaded and listened to on a computer. This is for the reader who has read PL many times, possibly. The other is the distracting voice of Satan. To saddle Satan with such a growl is superfluous and distracting, and gives Satan a particular "character" or quality which Milton may not have intended. Iago, for example, would not be read this way. Satan should be read as though he were Hamlet, since Satan's lines are the highlight of the poetry.
Since the poem is so difficult, I cannot justify a rating lower than 4; I think it needs to be re-recorded however.
PS Wanting to be sure of my thoughts I found this very useful page. I hope IA allows this post: https://poemshape.wordpress.com/category/poetry-by/milton-john/